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Gay animals come out of the closet

This content was published on May 10, 2003 As part of the city’s “Warm May” festival, the zoo is offering guided tours dealing with homosexuality among animals. The crowd that gathered for the first tour comprised a predictable mix of homosexual humans and their curious heterosexual counterparts. “I have kids at school who think that homosexuality is unnatural,” one young teacher told swissinfo,…

Sound firm takes top award for easy listening

This content was published on May 9, 2003 The firm won the annual Swiss Economic Award for its ground breaking sound technology, which is found in everything from hearing aids to CD players. Dspfactory specialises in technology which can filter out background noise using digital signal processing (DSP). The technology converts sound into a numerical form so that it can be sent through…

Lynx thriving in Switzerland

This content was published on May 9, 2003 Other alpine nations such as Austria, Italy and France have also made attempts to reintroduce animal, but with less success. The decline of the lynx in western Europe occurred in the 19th century, when the habitat of its natural prey, roe deer, was destroyed by farmers clearing forest for agriculture. The few remaining lynx were…

Novartis clinches key purchases in US

This content was published on May 9, 2003 The Swiss company has bought an incontinence drug from its American rival Pfizer and purchased a majority stake in biotechnology firm Idenix Pharmaceuticals. Novartis will pay $225 million (SFr295 million) for Pfizer’s Enablex, which should reach markets in the United States and the European Union in 2004, if regulators give the go-ahead. It is estimated…

Milking it on an alpine farm

This content was published on May 9, 2003 The writer was among a group of greenhorns who learned how to milk cows and make cheese at a school in the Bernese Oberland, before taking the farm reins into her own hands. The Berlin scriptwriter, Tamara Staudt, worked on a Swiss alpine farm for the first time in 2002, and the call of the…

Sars-affected firms to receive compensation

This content was published on May 8, 2003 Cantonal governments have been instructed to make up part of the wages lost by staff whose working hours have been reduced. Under the plan, firms will have to prove that the effects of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) have led to a drop in orders and work. Sectors that are known to have been hit…

Smaller firms in need of a kick-start

This content was published on May 8, 2003 Smaller firms, which account for 99 per cent of businesses in Switzerland, have suffered badly amid the economic downturn. Around 1,000 people are due to gather at the two-day forum, which is taking place in Thun, in canton Bern, to discuss ways of optimising basic business conditions. This year’s theme is “Trust and Growth”. “The…

Survivor venture firms ready to invest

This content was published on May 7, 2003 After a number of quarters of much subdued investment activity, investors are a little more upbeat as information technology suppliers are starting to report a return to sales growth. While other venture capital houses may still be occupied looking after existing portfolio companies, established venture capital investment firms, such as Apax Partners, Sofinnova, and Star…

Corporate aviation enjoys a boom

This content was published on May 7, 2003 Geneva is currently hosting the third annual European Business Aviation Conference and expects a record number of visitors to attend the event. The conference allows small private airlines, aircraft manufacturers and multinational companies to get together to see what’s on offer. While major airlines are busy trimming their fleets, last year 4,200 new aircraft were…

Unemployment steady but set to rise

This content was published on May 7, 2003 Seasonal conditions meant that the jobless figure fell slightly to 141,624 last month, halting a recent climb towards five-year highs. “The slight drop in unemployment has been caused by seasonal effects – more workers needed in tourism and construction – and cannot be credited to a market recovery”, commented Jean-Luc Nordmann of the State Secretariat…

Internal: Archive

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Internal: Archive

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Gay animals come out of the closet

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Sound firm takes top award for easy listening

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Lynx thriving in Switzerland

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Novartis clinches key purchases in US

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Milking it on an alpine farm

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Sars-affected firms to receive compensation

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Smaller firms in need of a kick-start

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Survivor venture firms ready to invest

More

Corporate aviation enjoys a boom

More

Unemployment steady but set to rise

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